This glossary explains the terms used across Amplify and this Help Center, in alphabetical order. Where a term has its own article, follow its link for the detail.
Some terms can be renamed in your instance — for example, benefits may be called impacts, and initiative levels may be called portfolios, programs, or projects. This glossary uses Amplify's standard names.
A
Actuals — the values an item has actually achieved or spent so far, such as a benefit's realized return or a cost's actual spend. Compared against the plan or budget, and the forecast.
Admin role — a set of administrator permissions for specific areas of the Administration menu, such as Classifications or Manage Users, each at a level from None to Full. Assigned to a person on their user record, as an alternative to full administrator access. See Admin Roles.
Advanced Model — the way of setting up Amplify for strategic and portfolio management, with a hierarchy of initiative classifications built to suit your organization, such as portfolios, programs, and projects. Compare Simple Model. See Configuring Advanced Classifications.
Amplify Index — a score of how well a benefit is tracking: by default, its forecast as a percentage of its plan, at the end of its life, so 100 means it's on track to deliver what's planned. A benefit classification can compare the current plan against a baseline instead. An initiative's score is the weighted average of its benefits' scores. Shown at the top of initiative and benefit pages, and colored by your status thresholds. See Amplify Index.
Annual reporting — a classification setting that makes dashboards total values for one reporting year, rather than across an initiative's whole life. Compare Lifetime reporting.
Approval workflow — the steps an item goes through to be approved, and the approvers at each step. Used for stage gates, status reports, benefits, measures, actuals, RAID items, resource demand, and more. See Approval Workflows and Approval Workflow Types.
Approver — a person asked to approve or reject an item at a step of its approval workflow.
Archive — to make an item inactive without deleting it. Archived initiatives, benefits, RAID items, goals, and measures can be restored.
Ask Amplify — Amplify's AI assistant, which answers questions about your data and helps with tasks such as drafting a status report. See AI in Amplify.
Assumption — something taken to be true for planning, without proof. Recorded in Amplify as a RAID item.
B
Baseline — a saved copy of an initiative's plans at a point in time, such as its schedule, benefits, and costs, used to measure how they've changed since. Baselines can be taken by hand, on a schedule, or automatically at each stage gate. See Baselines.
Benefit — a positive, measurable result an initiative is expected to deliver, such as a cost saving or a rise in customer satisfaction. Each benefit has a plan, a forecast, and actuals over time. May be called an impact in your instance. See Managing Benefits.
Benefit classification — a type of benefit, such as Cost Savings or Revenue, with its own unit, fields, and reporting periods.
Benefit Map — a diagram connecting initiatives, benefits, RAID items, and goals, with weightings that share each benefit's return between the initiatives contributing to it. Being phased out. See Benefit Map.
Benefit threats — financial benefits forecast to deliver less than planned, listed on the Performance Dashboard. See Performance Dashboard.
Board View — see Task Board.
Budget — the planned spend of a cost over time. The cost equivalent of a benefit's plan.
Business Case — a justification for an initiative, setting out its costs, benefits, and return on investment over a period. Being phased out. See Business Cases.
C
Classification — a type of item, and the settings every item of that type shares. Initiatives, benefits, measures, costs, RAID items, goals, and resources each have classifications — for example, a Project initiative classification, or an Opex cost classification. In the Simple Model, initiative classifications are called project types.
Cost — money spent, or to be spent, on an initiative, with a budget, forecast, and actuals over time.
Cost category — a kind of cost within a cost classification, such as professional fees or training. Cost categories are gathered into cost groups.
Cost group — a group of related cost categories, such as Capex.
Cumulative — showing each period's value added to the periods before it, as a running total. Compare Non-cumulative.
Custom dashboard — a dashboard built specifically for your organization, shown alongside the standard dashboards. See Custom Dashboards.
Custom field — a field your organization adds to items, such as a business unit or a strategic theme, beyond Amplify's built-in fields. See Custom Fields (Advanced Model) and Custom Fields (Simple Model).
D
Dashboard — a page summarizing an initiative's data in charts and tables, opened from Dashboards on its side menu. See Standard Dashboards.
Default format — the file format a downloadable report downloads in first, such as PDF.
Delivery threats — issues likely to delay an initiative, such as overdue tasks or a forecast over budget, listed on the Performance Dashboard with a recommendation for each. See Performance Dashboard.
Dependency — a link between two tasks or milestones, where one can't start or finish until the other does. Also a RAID item type, for something an initiative relies on from outside it.
Discount rate — the yearly rate used to work out the present value of future benefits and costs, for net present value. See NPV Dashboard.
Documents — files attached to an initiative, benefit, or goal. See Documents.
Downloadable report — a formatted report file, such as a PDF or Excel workbook, built from an initiative's data and downloaded from its Reports page. See Downloadable Reports.
E
Enterprise — the top level of the hierarchy, representing your whole organization.
Exposure — the total financial impact of an initiative's open RAID items.
External identifier — an item's ID in another system, used to match records when importing or integrating data.
F
Favorites — pages and items you've starred for quick access, listed on your Personal Dashboard. Shown as Favourites in Amplify.
Financial year — your organization's 12-month reporting year, which may not match the calendar year. Dashboards and reports total values by financial year.
Forecast — the current best estimate of an item's values over time, updated as things change. Compared against the plan or budget to show whether it's on track.
G
Gantt chart — a timeline of tasks and milestones shown as bars, with the dependencies between them. Amplify's schedule is shown as a Gantt chart. See Schedules.
Gate — the approval point at the end of a stage, where an initiative is approved to move on. See Stage gate process.
Goal — a strategic objective your organization wants to achieve, which benefits contribute to. See Managing Goals.
H
Hierarchy — how initiatives are organized, from the enterprise down through levels such as portfolios, programs, and projects. Values roll up the hierarchy, so each level shows the totals of those beneath it. See Creating a Hierarchy.
I
ID — the unique number each item is given, which can't be changed or reused. Search by ID to find an item quickly.
Impact — another name for a benefit, used in some instances.
Initiative — any piece of work managed in Amplify, at any level of the hierarchy, such as a portfolio, program, or project. See Managing Initiatives.
Initiative classification — a type of initiative, such as Portfolio, Program, or Project, and the settings every initiative of that type shares. See Configuring Initiative Classifications (Advanced Model).
Initiative Submissions — a way to collect ideas for new initiatives, including from guest users, before they're approved and created.
Initiative Workbook — a page for working through an initiative's stage gate process, with the information each stage needs and the request for approval. Formerly called the Project Brief. See Initiative Workbook.
Instance — your organization's own copy of Amplify.
Integrations — repeatable imports that update Amplify's data from another source, such as a spreadsheet or another system. See Importing Data.
Issue — a problem affecting an initiative that needs to be resolved. Recorded in Amplify as a RAID item.
Item — anything that can be created and managed in Amplify, such as an initiative, benefit, cost, RAID item, task, or goal.
L
Landing page — the page shown first when an initiative of a classification is opened, such as a dashboard or the Initiative Workbook.
Ledger — a view showing items' values period by period, such as each benefit's plan and actuals for every month. See Ledger View.
Lifetime reporting — a classification setting that makes dashboards total values across an initiative's whole life. Compare Annual reporting.
M
Measure — a value recorded to show whether a benefit is being achieved, such as a satisfaction score behind a customer experience benefit. A benefit can have several measures.
Measurement unit — the unit a benefit or measure is recorded in, such as a currency, a percentage, or a number of hours.
Milestone — a key point on a schedule, with no duration, such as a stage gate or a go-live date. Benefits can be linked to milestones, so they move when the milestone moves.
Mobile companion app — Amplify's app for phones and tablets, for notifications, approvals, and viewing dashboards. See Mobile Companion App.
N
Net benefit — benefits less costs.
Net present value (NPV) — what an initiative's benefits less its costs are worth in today's money, with each future year's value discounted. See NPV Dashboard.
Non-cumulative — showing each period's own value, rather than a running total. Compare Cumulative.
Notifications — emails and alerts Amplify sends about things that need your attention, such as approval requests or status report requests. See Notifications.
O
Overall status — an initiative's main status indicator — red, amber, or green — summarizing how it's going.
Owner — the person responsible for an item, such as an initiative or benefit.
P
Payback period — how many years it takes for an initiative's forecast net present value to rise above zero.
Pending approval — waiting on an approver's decision.
Personal Dashboard — your home page in Amplify, with your favorites, recent items, and To Do List. See Personal Dashboard.
Plan — the values an item is expected to achieve over time. For costs, the plan is called the budget.
Program — a group of related projects managed together. In the Simple Model, the program is the top level that holds its projects, reporting groups, and settings. See Configuring a Program.
Program administrator — a person who configures a Simple Model program.
Project — a piece of work with a defined start, end, and outcome. In the Simple Model, projects sit within a program.
Project type — in the Simple Model, a type of project, and the settings every project of that type shares. See Configuring Project Classifications (Simple Model).
Q
Quick print report — a downloadable report that downloads in one click, from the report icon at the top of an initiative or benefit. See Downloadable Reports.
R
RAID item — a Risk, Assumption, Issue, or Dependency recorded against an initiative, with a rating of its likelihood and impact.
Rating — how serious a RAID item is, such as Low, Medium, or High, worked out from its likelihood and impact. See Configuring Ratings.
Register — a list of items of one kind, such as the Initiatives Register or RAID Register, shown as cards, a table, or another view. See Register Views.
Report group — in status reporting, a set of related report periods. A report group can create its report periods automatically, on a schedule. See Requesting Status Reports.
Report period — one round of status reporting, with a due date and the initiatives asked to report. See Status Reporting.
Reporting group — in the Simple Model, a way of grouping a program's projects, such as by business unit or region, to filter and total them.
Reporting year — the financial year dashboards total values for, where annual reporting is used.
Resolution — the length of the periods values are recorded or shown in, such as monthly, quarterly, or by financial year.
Resource capacity — how much of each kind of resource is available, over time. See Managing Resources.
Resource demand — the people, or other resources, an initiative needs, over time. See Resource Demand.
Return on investment (ROI) — the return an initiative delivers for what it costs, as a percentage. See ROI Dashboard.
Risk — something that might happen and affect an initiative, if it isn't managed. Recorded in Amplify as a RAID item.
S
Scenario — a what-if selection of initiatives, compared against limits such as budget, to decide which to go ahead with. See Scenario Planning.
Schedule — an initiative's tasks and milestones over time. See Schedules.
Series — one set of an item's values over time, such as its plan, forecast, actuals, or baseline.
Shared team — a team that gives its members access across many initiatives, rather than one.
Side sheet — a panel that opens over the side of the page, for viewing or editing an item without leaving the page you're on.
Simple Model — the way of setting up Amplify for program management, with a program, its projects, and reporting groups. Compare Advanced Model. See Configuring a Program.
Stage — one phase of a stage gate process, such as Define or Deliver.
Stage gate process — the stages an initiative moves through, from idea to completion, with an approval at the gate between each one. See Stage Gate Process.
Standard dashboards — the built-in dashboards available on every initiative, such as the Value and Performance Dashboards. See Standard Dashboards.
Status indicator — a red, amber, or green rating of one side of an initiative, such as its schedule, financials, risks, or issues, alongside its overall status.
Status report — an initiative's regular update, requested by the level above it, with a snapshot of its status at the time it's published. See Status Reporting.
Status thresholds — the Amplify Index scores at which a benefit is shown as red, amber, or green. See Status Thresholds.
T
Task — a piece of work on an initiative's schedule, with dates, an owner, and progress. See Managing Tasks.
Task Board — a board showing an initiative's tasks as cards in columns, such as To Do, In Progress, and Complete. Some screens still call it Kanban. See Board View.
Team — the people who can work on an initiative, each with a team role.
Team role — the set of permissions a team member has on an initiative, such as whether they can update its benefits or request status reports. See Team Roles.
Template — a reusable layout or set of items, such as a status report template or a schedule template.
Timeline — the history of changes made to an item, and who made them.
Timesheet — a record of the time people spend on initiatives. See Timesheets.
To Do List — your list of things waiting on you, such as approval requests and status reports to complete, on your Personal Dashboard.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) — signing in with a code from an authenticator app, as well as your password, for extra security.
V
Variance — the difference between two series, such as the forecast less the plan. Positive variances are shown in green, and negative ones in red.
View — a saved layout of a register or dashboard, with its filters, columns, and grouping. Views can be private, or shared with everyone by an administrator. See User Views.
W
Workflow — see Approval workflow.
Can't find a term? Search the Help Center, or ask your administrator.